Movie Review: ‘The Long Walk’

NEW YORK (OSV News) – The only way characters die in “The Long Walk” (Lionsgate) is by execution at the point of a rifle.

But there are many variations on how they, in this adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel (published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) get to that awful end: Physical exhaustion, a breakdown in their ability to put one foot ahead of the other, the realization that their task is futile, and mental breakdowns are the leading factors.

It’s a nonstop annual slog in which 50 teen boys, all at least 18 years old and chosen by lottery, walk more than 300 miles through a dystopian Midwest landscape, using their own food supplies with water provided, for as long as the walk lasts.

But its grim purpose, involving winning both fame and an immense fortune during a totalitarian American regime that has followed a catastrophic war, does not tally either miles or days.

“There’s one winner — and no finish line!” bellows the profane sadistic figure known only as “The Major” (Mark Hamill), creator of the “game” whose verbal abuse is supposed to motivate them.

The goal is to get down to one survivor as the rest die, killed by soldiers who trail them and give three warnings to stand back up and resume the mandated 3 mph pace or be shot. And shot they get, although not all of this is shown as the group dwindles to a core of a dozen, then five, then three. Some of them invite the soldiers to shoot, and one grabs a rifle to commit suicide.

The film also graphically answers the question of how they move their bowels during all of this. Once might have sufficed, but evidently director Francis Lawrence and screenwriter JT Mollner found it a sub-theme to be explored.

The race is also supposed to raise national morale and boost the economy, the Major advises them, since the previous year’s event resulted in “a national spike in productivity.” He says it is meant to “re-integrate the value of the work ethic.”

“We have the means to return to our former glory!” he shouts. “We will be Number One in the world again!”

This will put audiences in mind of such dystopian fare as “The Hunger Games” and “Squid Games” with echoes of contemporary politics. But the novel, written in the mid-1960s when King was 19, would have originally evoked the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust following war with the Soviet Union and the 1960s corporate rat race to achieve the American Dream of wealth and upward mobility.

The only character with a backstory is Ray (Cooper Hoffman), whose father (Josh Hamilton) had been executed by the Major for disloyalty. He forms a bond with Peter (David Jonsson), and their conversations about life and love provide most of the dialogue. At one point, Peter observes, “They say we have a choice, but do you know anyone, anywhere, who has it?”

They also banter with a lot of macho teen-age posturing from the other walkers, including Hank (Ben Wang), Art (Tut Nyuot), Stebbins (Garrett Wareing), and Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer).

Despite the grim setting, the walk also provides unexpected examples of moral judgments. The walkers don’t want to die, but neither do they want to see others killed. So a good deal of the time, they are physically leaning on each other, or stride arm-in-arm.

The film contains gun violence, a scene of suicide, frequent gore, some scatological scenes and pervasive rough language. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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